Shem Oirere is a Kenyan journalist who previously worked for daily newspapers as a general news correspondent, business reporter and sub-editor before turning to full-time freelancing. For the more than 20 years, he has covered various sectors of Africa’s economy including agriculture, food processing, and maritime industries. A graduate of the University of South Africa, he has traveled within and outside Africa covering various industry events that have a bearing on the continent’s economy on behalf of different international consumer and trade publications. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Author Archive
Published on
December 12, 2025
South Africa's Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) has announced new measures to restore collapsing wild abalone populations.
After reports indicated that abalone biomass in South African waters has been reduced to less than 2 percent of pristine biomass levels in some areas, South Africa Fisheries Minister Dion George said his department has proposed for the listing of dry wild abalone in the Appendix II category of… Read More
Published on
December 10, 2025
Saudi Fisheries Company (SFC) has terminated a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with fellow Saudi Arabia-based seafood firm Aqua Bridge Farms Company, within which the two firms were set to commence formal negotiations for a binding business partnership.
SFC has struggled financially for several years running, and courting Aqua Bridge was one of several measures the firm had hoped would turn its poor performance around by increasing trade… Read More
Published on
December 5, 2025
Conflicts between foreign trawler operations and local artisanal fishers in The Gambia have reached a boiling point over access to limited fish stocks, resulting, in the most extreme cases, to physical injuries and arson.
Small-scale fishers in the West African nation have protested what they claim is encroachment and unfair competition for limited fish stocks by mainly Chinese industrial trawlers within areas supposedly reserved for them by the… Read More
Published on
December 1, 2025
Russia has renewed its fishing agreement with the North African nation of Morocco for another four years.
Under the previous agreement signed in 2020, Russia, which has been signing fishing deals with Morocco since 1992, was allowed to have 10 of its trawlers access Morocco's Atlantic waters to fish 140,000 metric tons (MT) of small pelagic species, such as sardines, mackerel, and anchovies, over a four-year period.
In exchange, Russia gave… Read More
Published on
November 10, 2025
The Central African country of Cameroon has received a USD 98 million (EUR 85 million) loan from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to expand its livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture sectors.
The nation’s Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries, and Animal Industries will put the funding toward support for its five-year Livestock and Fish Farming Value Chain Development Project (PD-CVEP), a key component of which is producing and distributing… Read More
Published on
October 31, 2025
Japan has partnered with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) on an initiative aimed at modernizing fisheries infrastructure and mitigating IUU fishing activities in Somalia.
The USD 2 million (EUR 1.7 million) initiative entails making investments in the East African nation’s landing sites and vessel repair facilities, as well as promoting responsible fishing practices and creating more employment opportunities,… Read More
Published on
October 29, 2025
NOAA Fisheries has determined that South Africa is among 10 African countries that have been granted permission to export fish and fish products from all of their marine fisheries to the U.S. from January 2026 onward.
The announcement was made as part of NOAA Fisheries’ crackdown on nations that do not meet requirements under the U.S.’s Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA).
In early September, NOAA ruled that 240 foreign fisheries from 46… Read More
Published on
October 27, 2025
Lagos, Nigeria-based aquaculture consultancy firm Sejfarms Consult has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the American Soybean Association (ASA).
Under the three-year MoU, the ASA, through its World Initiative for Soy in Human Health (WISHH) program, will support Sejfarms in providing Nigerian fish farmers with training on the production and use of high-quality fish feed that contains higher soybean content.
The initiative helps… Read More
Published on
October 24, 2025
Tanzania has proposed seven projects valued at nearly USD 108 million (EUR 93 million) that aim to enhance its seafood sector and is seeking domestic and international investors to partner with the government-owned Tanzania Fisheries Corporation (TAFICO) in implementing them.
The projects, according to a report from the Tanzanian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, will be implemented through a mixture of foreign direct investment, joint… Read More
Published on
October 23, 2025
The Arab Authority for Agricultural Investment and Development (AAAID), which is based in Dubai, has commenced operations at its new fish-processing plant in the Northwest African country of Mauritania.
The USD 28 million (EUR 24 million) facility has a processing capacity of 100,000 metric tons (MT) of fish and fish products with a storage capacity of 10,000 MT. AAAID will operate the facility through its affiliate, the Arab Mauritanian Fish… Read More
